Apparatus for sealing containers



Feb. 23, 19 13.. R.. J. STEWART I APPARATUS FOR SEALING CONTAINERS a sheets-sheet 1 Fiied Aug. 16, 1938 I I fiozert 15W Feb. 23, 1943.

R. J STEWART APPARATUS FOR SEALING CONTAINERS Filed Aug, 16, 1938 e Sheets- Sheet 2.

III/I/I/I/Il/I/IJ m m, m.

5 .llllllll I!!!I!IlllllllIf!!!lllfl'lf'll'lflfllrlllfflllllllllll'lffll II I Illlllllllll/IllllllllllIl/II I'll!!!Ill!!!IIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIII'I/IIIIIIIIIItrill!!! g Ell/A v b- 1943 R. .1. STEWART 2,51

APPARATUS FOR SEALING CONTAINERS Filed Aug. 16, l938 6 Sheets-Sheet 3' R. J. STEWART APPARATUS FOR SEALING CONTAINERS Feb. 23, 1943;

Filed Aug. 16, 1938 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 gmw'w F 19434 R! J. STEWART APPARATUS FOR SEALING CONTAI NERS Filed Aug. 16, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 NMLN ///4//////// u RM A /m w Feb. 23, 1943. R. ,J. STEWART 2,311,707

APPARATUS FOR SEALING CONTAINERS Filed Aug. 16, 1938 -6 Sheets-Sheet 6 \.;............m......u........ W

gwuc/Mom Gnome/yd Patented Feb. 23, 1943 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Robert J. Stewart, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Crown Cork &' Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore,

Md., a corporation of New York Application August 16, 1938, Serial No. 225,230

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for sealing containers and, more particularly, to an app ratus whereby' steam is placed in the head space of the container so that, by subsequent condensation, a vacuum will be provided in the container head space. v

Apparatus heretofore provided for placin steam within the head space of containers so that a vacuum will subsequently be established within such head space have not been altogether satisfactory because of the fact that upon condensation of the steam, some moisture has been present in the container head space. With many products, particularly food products, such moisture is highly objectionable and the use of such prior apparatus has therefore been limited to the packing of productswhich will not be damseed by moisture. It is found that the reason for-moisture within the head space of a container after condensation of the steam has been due to the fact that too great a quantity of steamhas been injected into the container head space. Only a given amount oi. steam at a. given pressure is required in a head space to provide a suillcient vacuum and, naturally, if too much steam is placed within the head space,

entinthe head space.

In apparatus wherein steam is forcibly injected into the head space, particularly when the container is cold, some condensation will immediately occur unless conditions arevery carefully and constantly regulated. That is, free moisture can be avoided by carefully regulating the steam so that. it will be in an extremely dry state, but this requires continuous adjustment of the machine due to the fact that steam which will be dry when a plant is at a hightemperature, will be less dry if the plant temperature -drops very slightly and temperature regulation in the type of large buildings used fact that the projection of a jet of steam under force in the steam chamber induces a draft through the steam chamber with the result that a quiet body of steam cannot be maintained in the steam chamber to pre-heat cold containers prior to the jetting of steam into their head spaces. Aside from the above factors, prior machines wherein steam is injected directly into .plicated in construction due to the fact that atmosphere rather than by indection of the steam into the head space' a steam chamber of such arrangement that-the the same time, the cap release means had to over backwards, thereby interfering with theing the containers to be tilted backwardly by the head space of the containersare rather'coman injecting means adjustable as to height must be provided.

The principal object 'of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for .vacuumizing containers which is extremely emcient and of simple construction.

Among other features of the present invention which contribute to the attainment of the above object is the fact that steam is placed in the head space of an open container simply by movement of the container through a. steam A further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of steam chamber for use in a container vacuumizing apparatus, the steam chamber being particularly designed to insure that a b0dy.of steam in a quiet state will be evenly distributed throughout at least the upper portion of the chamber and a draft through the chamber will not be induced.

Another object of the invention is to provide steam within the same will be maintained in a dry state without the necessity of continuous and careful adjustment of the steam supply.

In; apparatus of the type'deseribed above, it is necessary to apply a caploosely to a container while the'latter is' standing upon a moving conveyor belt. Mechanisms heretofore pro vided for this purpose have not been satisfactory due to the fact that the cap. release means of the cap delivery chute had to be sumciently braced, by'a spring or the like, to resist the weight of a line of capsin the chuteand, at

operate sufficiently freely to permit a container to remove a cap from the chute by contact with the cap release means. Where the release means is not so designed that it will readily release the lowermost cap when the container contacts with the same, the container will fall operation of the machine as well as wasting the contents of the container.

A further object of the invention is toprovide a means for loosely positioning caps upon moving containers without the danger of causcontact with the capapplying means.

Another object of the invention isto provide a capping mechanism particularly designed for sealing caps to moving containers."

In sealing a cap to a container moving beneath a capping mechanism, it is necessary that the contact of the capping head with the container does not arrest the forward motion of the container with the conveyor, otherwise the container will be tilted backwardly. Even if such backward tilting does not cause the container to be upset, nevertheless, if the container istilted only slightly backwardly at the moment it-moves out tainer, but such mechanisms have not overcome a the dimculties involved, due to the fact that the capping means has moved downwardly toward the container, as well as upwardly away from the container along lines too sharply at an angle to the direction of container movement. The

use of rotary members of fairly large diameter for this purpose has also been proposed but the practical difficulty with such devices has been that the initial contact of the roller is naturally only a contact with the leading portion of the container cap, while the final contact of the capping element is only with the trailing portion of the cap. During either of such contacts, the cap may be tilted with respect to the container and such final contact, in particular, is apt to prevent an efficient sealing of the cap upon the container.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a capping mechanism for moving containers which is of such design that it will bear upon the full area of the cap during the entire time that it is in contact with the latter.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the steam chamber and capping mechanism forming part of the apparatus of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the. machine on the line 2-4 of Figure 1, the view showing the steam chamber in vertical section.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the steam chamber on the line 3-4 of Figures 1 and 5.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the steam chamber on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view of the steam chamber.

Figure 6 shows a side elevation of the cap ap ,plying mechanism.

Figure 7 shows the canapplyin mechanism in elevation, the view being wtaken looking in the direction of the arrow A of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a side elevation, with portions in vertical section, of the capping mechanism.

The construction and operation of the appsinto the steam chamber II on the conveyor Ii.

Chamber I8 is supplied with steam at suitable pressure'through a steam supply line, and, as hereinafter described, the chamber is of such construction that the steam will be quietly distributed throughout the chamber so that no drafts will be created in the chamber. This will result in the chamber being kept filled by a cloud-like and stationary body of steam. During passage of a container through the body of steam in. the chamber II, the head space of the container will become filled with steam'and'a rarefied atmosphere will thus be provided in the head space.

When the containers have moved from the steam chamber II, a cap C will be loosely applied to each container by the cap applying mechanism generally indicated by the numeral ll. In this way the steam which has filled the head space of the container will be kept in the head space of the container. The container J with cap C loosely applied thereto will then move under the capping mechanism 20 which will force the loosely applied cap C down upon the container mouth to securely seal the container. The capping mechanism, operating in the open atmosphere, will also serve to immediately cool the cap C and the upper portion of the container so that the heated and rarefied atmosphere within the head space or the container will be condensed or contracted, thereby establishing a vacuum condition within the head space of the container before the latter leaves the capping mechanism II.

The delivery of the containers'to conveyor il may be-controlled by a timing and centering mechanism such as disclosed in my application for Article timing devices, Serial No. 428,797 filed January 29,1942, which is a division of the present case.

The operation of each of the mechanisms of the apparatus is hereinafter described in more detail in connection with thedescription of the construction of each mechanism.

The steam chamber As generally indicated in Figure l, the steam chamber I8 is in the form of a hood which surrounds and extends above the container supporting conveyor I 8 so that containersJ moving with the conveyor II will be maintained in a steam atmosphere while moving through the chamber.

Referring to Figure 2, which shows the steam chamber in transverse cross section, and to Figure 5, which shows the chamber in longitudinal vertical cross section, the chamber comprises an inner wall structure I" including side walls Ill and II! and a bottom wall III. to "I may be welded together so as to be of substantially U-shaped form. The side walls Ill and II! have blocks Ill welded to their outer surfaces which blocks are fixed to the upper ends -of tubular slides vertically movable in the base ill of the mechanism as generally indicated in Figure 2 and as hereinafter described in detail.

It will be observed that the upper edges of the walls Ill and II! will be positioned at such height with respect to the upper run .of the supporting conveyor 1' that the upper portion of a container J on the conveyor will be adjacent a U-shaped screen Ill, preferably of wire mesh, which extends between the upper edges of the The walls In side walls III and III. Screen I03 extends from the inlet end of the steam chamber I3 to a point adJacent the cap applyin mechanism I3 .as;

best shown in Figure 5. A steam inlet or expansion chamber III is provided above the screen Ill, chamber II. being of greater width than the inner wall structure and screen I33 to provide inlet portions III. Steam inlet, pipes "2 open to the lower walls of the inlet portions III so that steam issuing from steam inlet pipes II! will not blowdirectly toward the screen I03 but will jet or discharge against the baiiie to break the force of the steam. The pipes III extend downwardly through the tubular vertical guides I" to communicate with a source of steam as hereinafter described.

e The inlet end of chamber i3 is provided with an end wall Iii (Figures 4 and 5) having a cutout 3 therein through which containers may move into the steam chamber on the conveyor I5,the'wall II! also closing the adjacent end of the steam inlet chamber H0. The opposite end of the steam inlet chamber H0 is closed by a plate III, having its lower surface of arched form so that the adjacent-end of the screen I" may be fixed thereto. As best shown in Figures 3 and 4, plate 8 has an aperture H3 at one side thereof so that steam entering theinlet portion III on that side of the steam chamber Ill may move through the aperture I I9 and into a chamber I" (Figure 4) on the opposite side of plate II! and extending alongside the path of travel of containers. Chamber I20 has its well adjacent the containers formed of a mesh screen I2I of material similar to that used in the screen I03. The lower end of the cap applying mechanism II is positioned opposite the screen I2I referred to above, 'though, as hereinafter dedelivered to the con-- scribed, caps will' not be taine'rs until after they chamber II. D

It will be generally observed that by the above construction, the portion of chamber I3 adjacent inlet I I3 and also the major portion of the length of the steam chamber II will be maintained filled with a. quiet cloud of steam at low pressure "hehave left the steam cause the steam enters the chamber through the mesh screen I" which further breaks the force of the steam, and that just prior to leaving the chamber II, the containers will move through a steam atmosphere provided by the. lateral steam chamber I20 at the outlet end of the steam chamber.

In order to preventsteam within the space defined by the inner wall structure I00 from condensing, and in order to maintain the steam in a dry state, electric heating elements I25 are s'ecured to the outer surfaces of the side walls III and I 32, these heating elements. being positioned near the upper portions of such walls and preferably extending the entire length thereof. It will also be noted that the bottom wall I33. of

sulating material, not shown, to further prevent condensation.

' the upper surface of the base I". The other upper wall of chamber III. which wall thereby serves as ,a

tubular slide I extends down through a collar i3i fixed to the upper wall of the base by means of screws I32v or the like. Collar I has a sleeve or short hollow shaft I33 rotatable thereon, sleeve I33 being provided with gear teeth I 34 adapted to mesh with a pinion I33 journalled in' the central portion of the upper wall of the base I08 as indicated at I36. The pinion I35 is provided with a hub I31 having its bore threaded to engage a threaded rod I38. The upper end of rod I33 carries a cross frame I39 to which the tubular guides I03 may be welded or otherwise secured. Rod I33 is fixed against rotation in the frame I33 and it thereby follows that rotation of collar I33, by means of a hand wheel I40 provided at the upper end of the same. will cause the, rod I33 andframe I39, as well as the'entlre steam chamber carried by the tubular guides I08, to be raised or lowered.

The steam supply pipes I II which extend down through the tubular guides I05 have drain fittings I33 at their lower ends and, above the drain fittings, have flexible steam lines I connected thereto as shown in Figure 1. The flexible lines I are in turn connected to a pressure reducing yalve I. suitably mounted in-the base I" of the apparatus. The provision of the flexible lines I of course permits the supply lines 2 to be moved vertically with respect to the base. The pressure reduction valve II! is suitably connected to a source of steam.

In operation, when a filled an dopen container J moves into the steam chamber I8, the air in the head space of the container will be displaced 1 therefore rise from the head space. Displaceloose positioning of a-container cap 9r closure the inner wallstructure I00 is depressed atits 1 central portion sov that any condensation which may formupon-the lower portions of the side walls. as when the flow of steam is cut oil, will flow to the depressed portion and along thesame to the end of the wall and leave the steam chamber at that point. The lower wall I03 preferably does not extend the entirelengthof the 'steam v chambenbut is cut away at the outlet end thereof, as illustrated in Figure 5.

The steam chamber is covered withheat-inment of air also occurs because the atmosphere in the steam chamber is rarefied by reason of the presence of. the steam in the chamber. Thus. when a container moves from the steam chamber, its head space will be filled with steam, and the on the container by the cap applying means will cause this steam to be retained in the head space.

The provision of the steam chamber extension I I20 at the outlet end of the chamber serves to maintain steam at such end of the chamber and prevents too-much steam from being withdrawn from the main chamber by eddy currents induced by the movement of containers out of the main chamber. The use of an auxiliary chamber at only one side of the path of movement of the containers is found to be particularly efficient in preventing such eddy currents.

The cap applying mechanism tending downwardly. the capsthewbeing moved 4 by hand'towardthe outfeed arm I52 of the tray. A cap chute I53 having a channel therein of proper cross section extends downwardly from the outieed arm I52, chute I58 extending through an opening I54 (Figure in a closure plate I55 which forms part of an upward extension I58 of the steam chamber I8. The upward extension I56 is preferably pivoted on steam chamber I8 so that the lower portion of the chute within the steam chamber will be accessible to the operator. As is best shown in Figures 3 and 7, the chute I53 is laterally inclined so that while its upper end is oifset with respect to the longitudinal center line of the container supporting conveyor I5, its lower end will be centered with respect to such center line. Nevertheless, as indicated from the Figure 3 sectional view of the chute, any transverse line through the upper or lower wall of the chute will lie in a horizontal plane.

One corner of the lower end of the chute is cut away as indicated at I59 in Figure '1 so that the edge of this wall will be transverse to'the longitudinal center line of the conveyor I5. A pair of stop devices I60 are so mounted upon the chute that they will normally lie in a plane transverse to the center line of the conveyor and therefore transverse to the line of movement of containers J upon the conveyor. More specifically. each plate I60 includes an arm I6I pivoted between the upper and lower walls of the chute as indicated at I62, the upper portion I63 of the free end of each plate I6I extending directly downwardly in a, vertical-plane, while the lower portion I64 of each plat is inclined outwardly. A. spring I65 extending between depending pins I66 on the plates normally holds the latter toward each other, this spring being sufliciently strong to hold the plates in this position against the weight of the caps within the chute, but permitting the plates I60 to be readily spread apart by the movement of the mouth of the container beneath the same. tainer moves toward and between the extreme ends of the plates I60 as indicated in Figure 6, the plates will freely open, due to the marked leverage exerted by the containers acting upon the ends of the plates. The leading wall of the container mouth will simultaneously contact with the lowermost portion of the cap skirt to draw the cap out of the chute between the plates I80, the angle at which the plates are arranged with respect to each'other serving to center the cap skirt with respect to the container mouth.

A cap leveling arm I68 is pivoted to a lug I69 on the top wall of the cap chute by means of a pin indicated at I10. The free end portion I1I of arm I68 is bent upwardly and is maintained in a substantially horizontal plane as indicated in Figure 6 by an adjustable set screw I12 extending through the arm I68. The bend I18 in the arm I68 is so arranged that a cap may move freely out of ment with the bore of such chute and without contacting with the arm I68. However, just as the trailing portion of the cap skirt drops from the lower wall of the chute I53, its upper wall will come into contact with the bend I18 of the arm I68 by reason of the further forward movement of the container, and the continuing forward movement of the container will cause the cap to be brushed beneath the normally horizontal portion I1I of arm I68 so that the cap will be properly positioned upon the mouth of the container, that is, with' its top wall in a substantially hori- In other words, when a conchute I58 and along a path in alignzontal plane. The contact of the angle or bend I13 of arm I68 with the trailing upper portion of the cap just at the moment that this portion of the cap is dropping from the chute will further insure that the trailing portion of the cap will be forced downwardly to lie in a horizontal position upon the container mouth. Thus, the cap will be in a proper position for presentation to a capping device and so that the latter may readily force the cap to sealed position upon the mouth of the container.

In order that caps moving downwardly in the chute I53 will be urged to a position centered between the stop plates I80, a guide plate I18 is mounted at the lower end of the side wall I58a of the chute which is substantially opposite these stop plates. Guide plate I18 has a stem portion I19 which extends through'an aperture in the side wall I53a of the chute so that the guide plate I18 may be moved to such position within the chute as to urge small caps toward the opposite side wall of the chute and thus to a centered position with respect to the stop plates I80. As shown in Fig. 7, the lower end of guide plate I16 is angled inwardly as at so as to further direct caps to a centered position with respect to the stop plates I60. A set screw I80 threaded in the upper wall of the chute engages the stem I16 to hold the guide plate in adjusted position. Also. to eliminate friction, the bottom wall of the cap chute I63 may be provided with spaced and upstanding ribs I8I.

The capping mechanism The capping mechanism 20 shown in Figures 8 to ll'comprises a casing I supported from a standard I86 by an upper link I81 (Figures 1 and 8) and by two lower links I88 and I88. The link I81 is parallel with the lower links I88 and I88 so that a supporting structure of parallelogram form is thus provided. As indicated in the drawings, the links extend generally horizontal.

Link I81 is pivotally connected to the extreme upper end of the standard I86 by a pin I80, the pin extending through the link and also through two arms I9I at the upper end of the standard I 86. Link I81 extends into the upper central portion of the casing I85 and is pivoted to the casing by a pin I92 which extends through the walls of the casing as shown in Figure 10, each end of the pin extending into a swivel or collar I83 threaded upon a rotatable rod I84 having its lower endfixed to the base frame I which supports the container conveyor I5. The links I88 and I69 are connected to the standard I86 by means of a shaft I91 (Figures 8 to 11) which extends through the links and also through the standard. It will be observed that link I88 is connected to one side of the standard I86 while link I89 is connected to the other side ofthe standard. These two links are joined to opposite sides of the casing I85 by stub pins I98 which extend into the corresponding sides of the housing as shown in Figure 10. The base frame I85 supports the upper run of conveyor I5 during the travel of the latter beneath the capping mechanism and the lower ends of the supporting and adjusting rods I98 are rotatably joumaled in this base frame I85. The rods I94 are provided with sprocket wheels I 89 at their lower ends beneath the base frame and a sprocket chain 200 extends about the sprocket wheels. The upper end of each rod I94 carries a hand crank 20 I. Rotation of either hand crank will thus cause both rods I94 to be rotated and since the swivel sleeves I 83 are held against rotation, these sleeves will be moved either upwardly or downwardly to adjust the position of the casing I85 and the capping head carried thereby with respect to the upper run of the container supportplate 208 has a relatively large aperture 209 therein which fits about. a rotating eccentric 2 I 0. Thus, the plates 208 serve as eccentric straps whereby the housing 205 is moved to an elliptical orbit and in a vertical plane. Each eccentric 2I0 is formed integral with or fixed to a hollow shaft 2 which rotates about a pin 2| 2 journalled at its ends in the side walls of the casing I 85. Each shaftZII has a pinion 2 I3 mounted concentrically thereof and, as indicated in Figure 8, the two pinions mesh with a pinion 2M fixed to the shaft I98. Shaft I98 also has one or more sprocket wheels 2i6 fixed thereto within the supporting link I88. Sprocket chains 2II extend about the sprocket wheels 2I6 and are driven from sprocket wheels 2I8 rotatable on the pin I91 which extends through standard I86.

Referring to Figure 11, the collar which carries the sprocket wheels 2 I 8 also has two other sprocket wheels 220 formed thereon driven by sprocket chains 22! extending up through the standard I88, these latter sprocket chains beingdriven by a motor 223 mounted below the base I95 of the cappin mechanism. A take-up idler 224 may be provided beneath the sprocket chains 2II as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 8.

The chamber 206 of housing 205 has a plunger element 230 slidably mounted therein, plunger 238 normally being held against the removable bottom plate 23I of the chamber by a spring 232 as shown in Figures 8 and 10. The upper end of the spring 2312 bears against a plate 234 which is held downwardly and under tension by a set screw 235 extending through the upper end of the chamber to permit the tension of the spring to be adjusted. Plunger 230 hasan extension 240 which projects through an aperture in the bottom plate 23I of the housing and the capping head or plate 201 is fixed to this extension of the plunger by releasable means.

By the above arrangement, rotation of the eccentrics 2 III will cause the housing 205 to be moved through an elliptical path within the casing I 85, and the capping plate 201 will of course have a corresponding movement. As indicated by the various dotted line positions of the capping head illustrated in Figure 8, in moving downwardly toward a container J upon the container supporting c'onveyor I 5, the capping plate 201 will be moving in the same direction as the container. When the capping plate 201 contacts with the cap C upon the container J, the spring'232 will hold the capping plate downwardly under sumcient pressure to force the cap to sealed position upon the container. In moving upwardly from the cap 0, the plate 201 will also be moving generally in. the same direction that the container moves with the conveyor I5. In other words, the orbital movement of the capping plate along an elliptical path will minimizl the possibility of the container being tilted upon the conveyor when since the lower face of the cappingplate will be lying in a horizontal plane throughout its movement, it will have no tendency to tilt a cap C with respect to the container mouth as it leaves the container. a

The design of the eccentrics 2I0 is preferably such that the upper and lower portions of the elliptical path through which the capping plate 207 moves will be relatively flat so that the capping plate may be in contact with a cap C for an appreciable time,rather than merely having a point contact with the cap. This result is of course also partially due to the fact that the capping plate 201 is spring mounted and may thus move upwardly when it contacts with the cap and during the time that it is moving through the lowerportion of its orbital path of travel.

Since the capping plate 20? is in the open atmosphere and hence will not be heated by steam from the steam chamber I8, the plate will remain at a normal temperature. As a result, contact of the plate with a cap 0 will immediately cause the steam within the headspace of a container to be condensed, thereby establishing a vacuum condition within the head space of the container. Y

The caps to be applied by the present machine may be of either the type wherein a head-space vacuum alone. is relied upon to hold the cap seated and sealed, or the cap may be of the type wherein retaining means are provided upon the cap to hold the latter in sealed position or to assist a vacuum in holding the cap in sealed position.

A general description of the operation of the entire apparatus disclosed herein has been set forth in the opening portion of this specification, and the specific operation of each mechanism has been set forth in connection with the description of the construction of each mechanism.

' It will be obvious that the various mechanisms comprising elements of the present apparatus may be used alone as well as in other apparatus.

The phraseology used in the specification is or the purpose of description and is not intended to limit the invention, the scope of the invention being indicated in'the claims.

I claim:

1. A steam chamber for vacuumizing containers, said chamber having an inlet and an outlet therein through which conveying means may move, a steam inlet, and a reticulated element adjacent said steam inlet .to break the force of the stream of steam issuing from said steam inlet to provide a quiet body ofsteam in the steam chamber.

2. A steam chamber for vacuumizing containers, said steam chamber being of box-like form 'and having an inlet and an outlet through which a container may move through the steam chamber, a. reticulated element extending across the upper portion of said chamber and a steam inlet line on the opposite side of said element from the container inlet and outlet, said reticulated element serving to break the force of the steam 'ers. said steam chamber being or box-like form the capping plate 201 contacts therewith, and

and having an inlet and an outlet through which a container may move through the steam chamher, a reticulated element along a portion or said chamber and a steam inlet line on the opposite side of said element from the container inlet and outlet. said reticulated element serving to break the force of the steam issuing from said steam inlet line and provide a quietvbody of steam in said steam chamber.

4. In combination, a steam chamber having an inlet and an voutlet, a container supporting conveyor moving through the inlet and outlet of said chamber, a steam inlet, a reticulated element between said steam inlet and said conveyor and above the latter to break the force of the steam issuing from said steam inlet, the area defined between said steam inlet and said recticulated element including a portion extending laterally along said conveyor and toward the chamber outlet. 1

5. In a container vacuumizing apparatus, a steam chamber having an inlet and. an outlet through'which conveying means may move, a-

steam inlet, a reticulated element adjacent said steam inlet to break the iorce of the steam issuing from saidsteam inlet 'to provide a quiet body of steam in the steam chamber, and heating means independent of the steam delivery means to maintain the walls of the tunnel at high temperature.

6. In an apparatus for vacuumizing containera, a steam tunnehmeans for conveying coni tainers through said tunnel, steam delivery means including jetting means and banie means so relatively disposed that the jets strike the baiile means, and-a perforate wall disposed between the steam delivery means and the path of the containers in the tunnel, whereby a relatively quiet A steam so that the steam will move into the tunnel at sufllciently low velocity to .maintain a quiet cloud of steam in at least the upper portion oi the tunnel to heat and replace air within the head space or acontainer, and means to apply and seal caps to the container.

ROBERT J. STEWART. 

